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Paris 2024 | Debutants Slovenia claim historic win

28 Jul. 2024

Paris 2024 | Debutants Slovenia claim historic win

Slovenia, which play at their debut Olympic competition, earned their first-ever win, beating the Republic of Korea, 30:23. While the fight was tight before the break, the Europeans were a clearly better side in the second half, which helped them claim two points and stay in fight for a quarter-final spot. 

PARIS 2024 OLYMPIC GAMES – PRELIMINARY ROUND
GROUP A
Republic of Korea vs Slovenia 23:30 (12:14)

The Koreans, who felt confident after a surprising win against Germany two days earlier, opened up a 3:1 lead five minutes into the match, as their centre back Woo Bitna netted twice. However, the Asian team turned the ball over or missed their shots in the next seven minutes, so Slovenia enjoyed a 5:0 run and took a 6:3 lead, as Tjasa Stanko and Elizabeth Omoregie showed their quality in attack. 

The pendulum swung back in the following minutes, as it was the Republic of Korea's turn to have a 4:0 run, and as line player Gim Boeun rose to prominence, her team enjoyed the advantage once again, this time 7:6, midway through the first half.

The two rivals went on to trade goals for a while, but it was Slovenia who did a better job towards the end of the first half. Their 58% shot efficiency in the opening 30 minutes was not that impressive, yet a few goals and assists from the experienced Ana Gros lifted them to a two-goal lead at the break.

And after the restart, Slovenia picked up where they had left off. They enjoyed an impressive 7:0 run to take a 21:12 lead before Kang Kyunmin finally broke that deadlock nearly 10 minutes into the second half. The Koreans Woo Bitna and Ryu Eun Hee missed two 7m shots during that unlucky period, and an attempt to play "seven against six" in attack did not help either, as the Slovenes scored a couple of goals into an empty net.

The Koreans still had enough time to try to mount a strong comeback, and they tried their best, as their 4:0 run forced Slovenia's coach Dragan Adzic to take a timeout. And his instructions helped the European team to regain their fire power, so ultimately they cruised a well-deserved win, their first at this level.

10 Slovenia players found their names on the scoresheet, with Tamara Mavsar having a special impact with her seven goals. And her teammate Maja Vojnovic did a good job in goal, making 13 saves for a 38% efficiency and contributing a lot to the Balkan side's historic result.